If you’re upset over the deaths of your favourite Game of Thrones characters today, there was once a fictional figure of our very own that made the entire nation weep and protest on the roads; and that was Baker Bhai from the drama series Kothao Keo Nei.
The creator of Baker Bhai was equally popular himself. Ekuskey Padak recipient and a gifted storyteller, Humayun Ahmed, was father to many such wonderful fictional characters. During that time, television was the only source of entertainment. Humayun Ahmed’s plays and drama serials gained popularity in the 80s.
His literary work began in the 70s but writing television dramas started in 1983 with his first drama being Prothom Prohor (The First Dawn) produced by Nawazesh Ali Khan. The first drama serial that Humayun Ahmed wrote was in the year 1985 and it was aired on Bangladesh Television (BTV) for 9 months. Humayun Ahmed admitted that he only wrote that TV serial because he wanted to purchase a colour TV with the income he made from the show.
His serial, Ei Shob Din Ratri (All these Nights and Days) had 18 episodes and this show leveraged Humayun Ahmed’s fame to a whole new dimension. Little Tuni from the show died while being treated for cancer in Germany. The news of her death shook the viewers of Bangladesh.
Soon after, one of the finest hours in the history of Bangladesh’s TV drama culture followed. Humayun Ahmed composed stories such as Ayomoy, Bohubrihi, Aaj Robibar; and they all ran successfully, gaining more and more popularity by the day. His portrayal of a middle class family’s struggles, sorrow and joy appealed to the viewers.
He brought up social issues in his dramas too; in order make people aware of the contemporary problems and dared to point out the convicts present within the society.
An example of such instances is when he made a parrot from the drama Bohubrihi shout out the immortal phrase “Tui Razakar!” in that conflicting period.
Humayun Ahmed’s Kothao Keo Nei, took Bangladesh by a storm with its plotline. It was possibly the most popular TV drama to have ever been telecasted in the history of Bangladesh. Baker Bhai became more than just a fictional character; he became an integral part of people’s lives. When Baker bhai was wrongfully sentenced to death on the show, citizens instituted mass protests in an effort to stop his execution and called Humayun Ahmed to change the story, which he refused to do.
Today, when it is difficult to focus on one TV channel, the peak of popularity that these TV shows once stood on seems to be from a far off land.
There are all types of storytellers in the world; but what made Humayun Ahmed special was how easily his characters walked into the viewers’ lives and how their stories became the viewers’ concern. At a time when television entertainment was not as abundant, Humayun Ahmed’s shows broke out of the TV screens and touched people’s hearts and that is what will immortalise him for his
eternal fans.